The name Poti is apparently linked tae Phasis, but the etymology is a matter o a scholarly dispute. "Phasis" (Greek: Φάσις) is first recordit in Hesiod's Theogony (c. 700 BC) as a name o the river, no a toun. Syne Erich Diehl, 1938, first suggestit a non-Hellenic oreegin o the name an assertit that Phasis micht hae been a derivative o a local hydronym, several explanations hae been proposed, linkin the name tae the Georgie-Zan*Poti, Svan*Pasid, an even tae a Semitic wird, meanin "a gowd river."[1]